Dozens rescued from roof of Tennessee hospital during flooding from Helene

More than 50 people have been rescued after being stranded on the roof of a Tennessee hospital Friday due to rising floodwaters from Hurricane Helene, according to a city official. 

More than 50 people have been rescued after being stranded on the roof of a Tennessee hospital Friday – some of them for hours – due to rising floodwaters from Hurricane Helene, according to a city official. The dozens of people trapped atop Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, were all taken to safety as of Friday evening, Michael Baker, Erwin’s alderman, told CNN. “We’ve had a constant stream of helicopters picking them up and dropping them off into the city at safe places,” Baker said earlier Friday. “There’s a helicopter on top of the hospital, and we have another one, hovering nearby to start to carousel getting everybody off, but this is a team effort.” Ballad Health, which manages Unicoi, was notified the hospital needed to be evacuated at around 9:30 a.m. local time Friday, the healthcare organization said in a post on X. But because of flooding and high winds from the deadly storm, ambulances and helicopters could not reach the building safely. Erwin, about 100 miles east of Knoxville, is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains, close to Tennessee’s border with North Carolina. A total of 54 people were moved to the roof, and seven others put in rescue boats, Ballad Health said in a statement earlier Friday. The hospital system said the count included 11 patients.